Funding systems

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The Graphene Flagship is a research initiative planned over a 10-year period with a total budget of €1 billion; half of which is funded by the European Commission. It is divided into two separate phases with different funding systems.

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The first phase was a 30 month ramp-up phase under the 7th Framework Program (1 October 2013 – 31 March 2016) with a total European Commission funding of €54 million, and the second is a steady state phase under the Horizon 2020 Programme (1 April 2016 – 31 March 2023). During the first (FP7) phase the Graphene Flagship was implemented as a combination of two instruments; a Collaborative Project, Coordination and Support Action (CP-CSA), and a European Research Area Network Plus (ERANET+).

The second phase is divided into a number of cores. The budgets for Core 1 and Core 2, running for two years each, have been set at €89 million and €88 million respectively. The cores are implemented as a combination of a long term Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA), and a series of shorter term Specific Grant Agreements (SGAs). The FPA specifies the consortium and the overall goals of the flagship, while the SGAs give the specific scientific and technological goals and budget allocations.

In the Horizon 2020 Programme, the Graphene Core Project is funded by the European Commission, which corresponds to 50 percent of the budget of the whole initiative, while the remaining 50 percent is expected to be financed through Partnering Projects at regional, national or transnational level. The Partnering Projects and Associated Members do not receive funding from the Graphene Core Project budget.